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A proposal for a $400 million wind plant in West Virginia by Kenetech Corporation has so far won support from local county officials. The proposed project would benefit depressed Greenbrier County economically, county planning chief Jim Simpson told the Beckley Register Herald. He says he expects planning commissioners also to approve the project, although environmental issues must first be studied.

Construction on the 1200-turbine plant might start in 1996 and take five to seven years, says Kenetech's John Huffman. Ed Michael, a biologist at West Virginia University, has been hired to study the wildlife. Kenetech had also proposed a plant nearby at Cabin Mountain but these plans were shelved for visual and avian concerns.

The area, remote and high, has timber and coal mining. Huffman, who claims that wind power can be produced for $0.035-0.05/kWh, also told the West Virginia Daily News that an assembly plant to possibly be built by Kenetech would serve the eastern United States. The company is also apparently interested in other locations in the region.